This invention relates to improvements in shoes which can eliminate the use of buckles and other rigid-type fasteners that only provide a predetermined, fixed and limited number of adjustments available to the wearer when fastening the shoe.
Some shoes available currently have a strap and buckle closure which offer only limited tautness because of the predetermined position of the holes in the strap for insertion of the rigid stud or latch of the buckle. To fasten buckle type closures, both hands are needed. When the shoe does not fit properly, the foot may shift back and forth, sideways and up and down in the shoe which can cause blisters, bunions, callouses and other problems which are painful and harmful to the feet.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,527 and 4,126,951 and other copending application, I disclosed various Velcro type closures for fastening shoes to maintain the desired tautness specifically across the instep.
Other U.S. patents, particularly the patent to Shaw No. 3,845,769, show the use of a Velcro fastener in footwear. Shaw discloses a therapeutic boot of essentially unyielding material shaped to fit a limb using a plurality of bands with D-rings located adjacent the split in the bottom which receive the Velcro fastener. This structure pulls the sides of the boot together toward the center split.
However, the shoes utilizing the closure assemblies referred to above are not constructed to function in combination with a non-adjustable elastic gore.